VOLVO Complaints

On 6/27/26 at approximately 12:30pm, I was stopped at a red light for about 10-15 seconds at a major intersection. The vehicle was stopped on a slight incline. My feet were not on the pedals, the car was set with one pedal drive engaged at the "high" setting, cruise control/pilot assist was not active, my seatbelt was on, `Creep Forward was disabled, and the car had been completely stationary for those 10-15 seconds. Suddenly, the car spontaneously started to accelerate - not slowly rolling forward, but actively accelerating with significant forward propulsion. Given the configuration in which the vehicle was set, the vehicle shouldn’t have moved at all let alone with such sudden speed. Fortunately, there was no one in front of me and I was paying close attention so I was able to immediately step on the brake pedal to stop the car. The car only traveled about 2-3 feet, but that's only because I reacted so quickly. Without immediate braking the car would’ve entered into the intersection and cross-traffic.No warning lights or symbols appeared prior to the malfunction and the dealership could not determine the cause. The vehicle experienced another unexpected propulsion event with another driver the day after the Volvo service department inspected it. I requested that Volvo cars preserve any available diagnostic, event, telemetry, or other vehicle data potentially associated with either incident so that it is not overwritten or lost.The vehicle is available for inspection upon request

My 2024 Volvo XC90 has experienced complete battery and electrical failure three times in approximately ten months. The failure pattern is identical each time. The battery discharges fully with no prior warning. A jump start restores power briefly, but the vehicle does not hold a charge and shuts down again, so it must be towed. The battery has been replaced three separate times by authorized Volvo retailers and the failure keeps recurring, which indicates the underlying cause has not been identified. Component: Electrical system, specifically a suspected parasitic current draw causing complete discharge of the 12V battery. The vehicle is available for inspection on request. Safety risk: The vehicle becomes completely inoperable without warning and has stranded me three times, requiring towing on each occasion. There is no advance indication that the battery is failing. Because the failure is sudden and unpredictable, the vehicle cannot be relied on to start in an emergency or to remain operable, and I have no confidence that a failure will not occur at a time or place that puts occupants at risk. Confirmed by dealer: Yes. Each failure was confirmed by an authorized Volvo dealer, which replaced the battery each time. Repairing dealers include Independence Volvo and University Volvo. The failures occurred in approximately October 2025, approximately March or April 2026, and [date of current failure]. The vehicle is currently at [dealer] for the third occurrence. Inspection by manufacturer or others: Volvo Car USA corporate has not inspected the vehicle. No police or insurance inspection. To my knowledge no dealer has performed or documented a parasitic draw test to locate the source of the discharge. Warning lamps or symptoms: None. There were no warning lamps, dashboard messages, or symptoms of any kind before any of the three failures. The vehicle operated normally and then would not start. Total days out of service: at least 15 days across the three times

The contact owns a 2017 Volvo XC90. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the window power switch was enabled; however, the window switch failed to function as intended. The contact stated that the rear-view camera, the door switch, and the air conditioner failed to function as intended. In addition, the contact became aware of water on the front passenger’s side floorboard. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact referenced an unknown recall; however, the VIN was not associated with a recall related to the failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 94,000.

Vehicle is repeatedly losing functionality of features controlled by what is referred to as the infotainment system, included lane departure warning, sound associated with turn signals, sound associated with GPS, use of hands-free calling system, etc. Upon reset, functionality resumes but the reset takes a few minutes and must be performed again and again as the issue is recurring. The main problem is that you don't know the functionality is temporarily down until something causes you to notice (IE no steering wheel vibration when departing a lane without turn signal, no alerts on backup camera - objects are visible but off-screen objects don't trigger a warning like they typically do, etc) so you don't expect anything to be wrong when it is. I marked that this incident occured today - which it did, coincidentally on the way to a service appointment about this issue specifically, but it has been happening with increasing frequency over the last couple of months.

I was checking EV charging locations on my Pixel 10a while the EX30 was driving in Pilot Assist mode. I was hand-free. The car was chirping at me to do something, I have XXX while cars zoomed past at 80 mph or more (just outside of [XXX]). Vehicles were depertely swerving, honking, I was yelling at the car to move... it remained tied to the ground. After what felt like an eternity (you'll need to check the car black box), I realized my phone needed to be placed back on the middle console to get a 'key read'. At least 20 cars swerved, slammed on their brakes, and came within inches of smashing the car (with my wife), we thought we were dead. I take full responsibility for unsafely using my phone and driving without two hands on the wheel. But this shouldn't cause the vehicle to come to a DEAD STOP, IN THE MIDDLE OF A FREEWAY! The car should use words, not beeps. It should gradually restrict driving features. It should NOT STOP ON A FREEWAY - HANDS ON WHEEL OR NOT, KEY CARD ON THE CONSOLE OR NOT. In this case, the "safety response" could have been the most deadly response. PLEASE have Volvo engineers evaluate this safety response - it almost killed that day, it will have a chance to kill again. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Randomly, the sound from the infotainment system stops working. This impacts the turn signal sound inside the car, the cross traffic alert sound, blind spot warning sounds, etc. This can be fixed by restarting the infotainment center, but this is not safe to do while driving. Being unable to hear the turn signal increases the chance of forgetting to turn it off, causing confusion for other drivers. This issue has not been confirmed by the dealer or manufacturer, although other infotainment issues have been acknowledged. The failure is random, with no indication before hand.

Entire car audio does not work. Blinker click, collision warning, navigation etc. Volvo has blamed software but each update in the past 3 years has not fixed the issue. Driving a car where the entire audio system is not working reliably is a safety issue

The vehicle's Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) safety network experienced a total electrical blackout, resulting in complete airbag non-deployment during a severe unibody-deforming hit-and-run collision. The vehicle was stationary when a high-speed car rammed the passenger side and front profile. Kinetic forces split the cast aluminum steering rack housing completely in half, fractured front CV axle joint cages, and shifted the engine subframe mounts (creating physical gaps and shiny mechanical abrasions beneath the rust layer). Despite catastrophic structural distortion—which twisted the greenhouse safety cage and cracked the windshield directly beneath the laser cluster—zero front, side, or curtain airbags deployed. No dashboard SRS warning lights illuminated prior to or after the crash.A post-crash scan by a Master Mechanic confirms high-speed CAN-bus fragmentation, storing module timeouts U016700, U042268, and steering column resistance deployment inhibitors B1C0224, B1CO424, B1C0524. Additional codes include P134600, P134613, P261086, P0A0F68, C006468, B109B15, B116415, and B108467.Teardown reveals extensive, pre-existing saltwater intrusion residue inside passenger footwell fuse blocks (Centers B/C) and the under-hood relay box, plus green cupric carbonate oxidation on chassis grounds. This induced extreme electrical resistance, blinding the SRS module's ability to read the crash pulse. Occupant safety was heavily compromised; the driver sustained a severe concussion, whiplash, and active neurological time-loss blackouts after being struck by flying cabin cargo during the pulse. Both front seatbelt receiver buckles permanently bound and locked. The vehicle was inspected by local police under an active criminal hit-and-run report. Diagnostic logs are preserved and available for federal review.

While parking our Volvo in the parking lot of Trader Joe's grocery store on [XXX], the Volvo suddenly accelerated and collided with the adjacent car in the next parking slip and rammed the car in the forward parking slip pushing about 15 to 20 feet ahead. Luckily, nobody was hurt though it could have been a disaster is someone was standing there near either of the other two cars. No one other than the auto body shop has inspected the car. The police came but did not write up a report because it was on private property and there were no injuries. Nothing on the instrument panel then or now shows any indication of a malfunction. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

While parked, unoccupied, and locked on a nearly level asphalt residential driveway, the vehicle began moving on its own and traveled approximately 15 feet down the driveway before coming to rest. The movement began several hours after anyone had last operated the vehicle. Conditions were dry at onset with no ice or snow beneath the tires. No driver was present and no input was given. The driveway terminates at a public street. The event was captured in its entirety on a residential exterior security camera. Eleven video files exist and are available for inspection on request. The vehicle itself is also available for inspection. Safety risk: an infant and two dogs are present in the household, and the vehicle traveled toward a public roadway with no occupant able to brake or steer. Had a person or child been in the path, or had the vehicle reached the street, the outcome could have been a serious injury or collision. The failure has not been reproduced or confirmed by any dealer or service center. The event was reported to the manufacturer's customer care in writing in March 2026 and escalated in April 2026. No diagnostic inspection was offered at that time and no response was received for approximately three months. The vehicle was delivered to an authorized dealer in July 2026, and the manufacturer dispatched a field specialist. No root cause has been provided to the owner in writing. Whether the manufacturer identified a cause is UNKNOWN. Prior warning symptoms: beginning within weeks of delivery in December 2025, the vehicle displayed recurring fault messages including headlight fault, system communication fault, emergency call system fault, charging fault, and park assistance fault, on separate and unrelated occasions over several months, documented with date-stamped photographs. Separately, in May 2026 the vehicle suffered a total failure and would not start, with blank displays and non-functioning turn signals, resolved only by a factory reset.